Laudable is the generosity, genuine charity of so many priests — hospital chaplains — who are spending themselves body and soul to attend to the many sick in hospitals and other institutions.

In particular, they are dispensing the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, with the greatest possible health precautions and care, to give thanks to God.

Sickness, An Encounter with God

We celebrate the Feast of Easter this year at a time when the world needs "a resurrection". This year, we contemplate the faces of the people who pray in their homes imploring the Almighty God to lift the “lockdown” imposed on humanity and to have the dawn of a new life rise. We meditate on the events relevant to "the Resurrection", namely Easter, and we realize that a large stone had closed the door of the grave. The assumption was that this stone would never move and that death would be perpetual.

When this crisis started, I thought of these Jesus’ words. What a tragedy. Hundreds of thousands are dying, millions are suffering and there is a global fear of uncertainty. This crisis is the biggest one since the Second World War.

Pope Francis has said that the pandemic restrictions have made him feel caged. So he is heading out for Divine Mercy Sunday, but just a short walk from St. Peter’s Square, to the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia, the Roman headquarters for the Divine Mercy devotion.

As a young boy I enjoyed playing Little League baseball. On a couple of occasions, while playing a lesser opponent, our team would be so far ahead that the “mercy rule” took effect, meaning the game would end before all nine innings were played. This was meant to spare the other team embarrassment and to ensure the game ended in a timely manner.

Following is the full text of the Pope’s reflection: “A plan for resurrection” issuedon April 16,2020:

“Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted them, saying: ‘Rejoice'” (Mt 28:9). It is the first word of the Risen One after Mary Magdalene and the other Mary discovered the empty tomb and ran into the angel.

A bishop, who died on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020, after a lifetime of ministry in some of the most difficult places in which to be a Christian, has been praised for his “courageous and dynamic apostolate in the heart of Islam”.

Comboni Missionary Bishop Camillo Ballin, who died aged 75 after on a long illness on 12th April, ministered across the Middle East before being appointed the first-ever Apostolic Vicar of Northern Arabia, covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

He arrived in Italy by boat in 1993, became a welder, discovered the faith that his grandmother had transmitted to him by singing, and became a priest. Three years ago, he returned to Albania. The Pope has appointed him an auxiliary bishop of Tiranë.

I could still detect in his voice, on the phone from Tiranë, the surprise of what has just happened to him. It’s not long since he received the announcement of the appointment he has received. His is one of the many small, but great stories, of which the daily life of the Church is interwoven.

Homily starter anecdote: The phoenix bird: The late Catholic Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, (died on August 2, 1991), had undergone cancer surgery resulting in a permanent colostomy when he wrote these very personal words in one of his last Easter messages: "I am now a member of an association of people who have been wounded by cancer. That association has as its symbol the phoenix, a bird of Egyptian mythology. The Greek poet Hesiod, who lived eight centuries before Jesus was born, wrote about this legendary bird in his poetry.

In his address to the city of Rome and the entire world Urbi et Orbi, Pope Francis spoke about the current conditions of the world, namely with reference to Corona virus that has inflicted severe distress on the extended human family. He coined a new term, which is the second "infection" caused by Easter, namely the "contagion of hope". The world thirsts nowadays for this positive and beautiful infection, because it constitutes a glimmer of hope that shines into the souls and hearts promising the presently sorrowful people, that the future will be better, God willing.